title: Telomerase is an unusual RNA-containing enzyme. A review.
abstract: Telomeres, the natural ends of linear eukaryotic chromosomes, are essential for protecting chromosomes from degradation and fusion. The synthesis of telomere DNA repeats in most eukaryotes is performed by a special enzyme, telomerase. Telomerase, a ribonucleoprotein enzyme, is a specialized reverse transcriptase utilizing its RNA moiety as a template for synthesis of telomeric DNA. Enzymatic properties and results of comparative analysis of telomerase RNA and protein structures from different eukaryotic systems are discussed in this review.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia.
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Dokudovskaya
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Petrov
authors.forename: O A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Dontsova
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Bogdanov
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004261:DNA Replication; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D019098:Telomerase / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D016615:Telomere / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D012313:RNA; D019098:Telomerase